accessible

Opinion: Chabot more accessible to constituents thanks to Pureval

Ben Klayer, Opinion contributor Published 4:01 p.m. ET Feb. 19, 2019

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Republican incumbent, U.S. Rep,. Steve Chabot refutes claims made by Democratic candidate, Hamilton County Clerk, Aftab Pureval about his tenure as representative during a debate forum for the first and second congressional districts of Ohio hosted by AJC Cincinnati at the Mayerson Jewish Community Center in Amberly, Ohio, on Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2018. (Photo11: Sam Greene/The Enquirer)

Congressman Steve Chabot recently held his first town hall meeting in almost four years. Furthermore, he announced that he plans to hold regular meetings around his district. That statement promotes a shift in community engagement – since 2015, Chabot has hosted prescreened "tele-town halls," which only existed to shield him from frustrated constituents. Many residents of Ohio’s 1st Congressional District claim their representative is difficult to reach. Therefore, the ability to sit down with him and directly voice concerns seems like progress for our local democracy.

I attribute this upgrade to Aftab Pureval, who challenged Chabot in the 2018 election. During his campaign, the energetic Democrat raised awareness about this issue. Aftab sincerely believed the longtime Republican incumbent didn’t care about the people who elected him to serve. So Aftab’s supporters encouraged Chabot to become more accessible.

Aftab’s call-to-action – coupled with his otherwise inspiring message – boosted participation at all levels of government. Voters felt motivated by the current clerk of courts; turnout in Hamilton County peaked above 55 percent, while Warren County danced around 63 percent.

Generally, Democrats perform well during elections with high turnout. However, Pureval lost the election by six points. Why? One major problem prevented him from getting promoted to Washington.

Gerrymandering.

Wow, I just felt 150,000 collective eye rolls. All of the conservative folks in Hamilton and Warren counties simultaneously mumbled at their newspapers/computers screens, "You lost. Get over it. That’s irrelevant."

My response: look at the map. Only in bizarro world should Hamilton and Warren be considered the same district. Geographically outlined, they look like a toilet. Urban Hamilton County contrasts rural Warren. As a lifelong Cincinnati westsider, I’ve visited Warren County perhaps a handful of times. But guess who dominated in Warren County, thus stealing the victory? That’s right, Mr. Tele-Town Hall.

Keep in mind that the congressional district maps are redrawn every 10 years to reflect census demographics. Whichever party has power decides the outcome. The current district, naturally, was established in 2010 – after underdog Steve Driehaus defeated Chabot two years prior. Republicans rigged the system to ensure that couldn’t happen again.

But I digress.

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Chabot’s first town hall happened on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m. Admirable, I admit, although he only notified constituents less than a day prior via robocall. I hope that future meetings occur later in the day, after most people return from work, and that they are scheduled with adequate time for notification.

I applaud Aftab, his team and his supporters for pressuring their representative. They spurred productive action, even while stuck amid gerrymandering. Transparency and availability are two important aspects of serving as an elected official. Chabot has gotten complacent. We are tired of our concerns being swept under the rug. Hopefully, his announcement to host in-person meetings is a step forward.

Still, I’m not holding my breath until Chabot’s office actually schedules regular town halls that are announced well in advance. I’ll believe it when I see it – or in this case, when I get an opportunity to ask him a question myself. I’ve lived in this district my entire life, yet I’ve only interacted with Chabot while he passed out those plastic cups at parades.

As responsible citizens, we must continue to hold Chabot and every representative accountable. They serve us, not the other way around. We should attend town hall, city council and community meetings. We have a constitutional right to share our opinion. Let’s advocate for elected officials to provide us an opportunity to utilize it.

Ben Klayer is a published author and political activist who lives in West Price Hill.

Ben Klayer (Photo11: Provided)

Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/opinion/2019/02/19/opinion-chabot-more-accessible-constituents-thanks-pureval/2910758002/

New Citroën Ami One Concept: An ultra-compact EV accessible to all

Citroën has presented its vision of urban mobility for all with its new Ami One Concept, which will be on display at the Geneva Motor Show in Switzerland, March 7-17, 2019.

Citroën is marking its centenary year with a fully electric and connected ultra-compact concept echoing the brand's "Inspired By You" baseline. It is billed as a solution for new customer behavior as well as a response to the challenge of energy transition in the city.

Accessible without a driving license from age 16, the Ami One Concept has been designed as much to be purchased by individual users as for creating carsharing fleets. Via an accompanying application -- which can be voice controlled -- the driver can, at any time, manage the car's settings (power use, charge status, etc.) as well as access a portal of services (geolocation, parking space search, charging station access, etc.) via "Free2Move Services."

This ultra-compact two-seater vehicle (2.50 meters long) has been conceived as an alternative to public transport and to other currently popular electric individual means of transport (bike, scooter, kick scooter). In terms of performance, Ami One Concept promises a top speed of 45km/h and a 100km range.

Alongside this mobility solution, Citroën has developed a whole range of lifestyle products sharing the identity of its concept, such as a windbreaker, a portable Bluetooth speaker, a smartphone case, etc. These items will be available via the brand's e-store.

- Check out the Ami One in this video: youtu.be/t-Ksq0Cu_vw

An Indian oil company left the biometric ID numbers of 6.7 million customers accessible on Google

The personal details of up to 6.7 million people in India — including biometric ID numbers — were left accessible via a Google search, a security specialist revealed Monday.

Discovered by an anonymous Indian security researcher and revealed by French security expert Baptiste Robert, the leak marks just the latest embarrassing breach of Aadhaar — the world’s largest biometric database that the Indian government claims is hack-proof.

The state-owned gas company Indane misconfigured a part of its website that allowed anyone to collect the names and addresses of customers usually only accessible to dealers and distributors, according to Robert. He also found customers’ confidential Aadhaar numbers hidden within the code.

“Due to a lack of authentication in the local dealers portal, Indane is leaking the names, addresses and the Aadhaar numbers of their customers,” Robert said in a Medium post explaining his research.

The data collected by Robert was verified by TechCrunch.

The personal details of up to 6.7 million people in India — including biometric ID numbers — were left accessible via a Google search, a security specialist revealed Monday.

Discovered by an anonymous Indian security researcher and revealed by French security expert Baptiste Robert, the leak marks just the latest embarrassing breach of Aadhaar — the world’s largest biometric database that the Indian government claims is hack-proof.

The state-owned gas company Indane misconfigured a part of its website that allowed anyone to collect the names and addresses of customers usually only accessible to dealers and distributors, according to Robert. He also found customers’ confidential Aadhaar numbers hidden within the code.

“Due to a lack of authentication in the local dealers portal, Indane is leaking the names, addresses and the Aadhaar numbers of their customers,” Robert said in a Medium post explaining his research.

The data collected by Robert was verified by TechCrunch.

Aadhaar is the world’s largest biometric database and is used in India for everything from voting to opening a bank account and getting access to food rations. While Aadhaar numbers are not secret, they are treated as confidential in the same way as a social security number.

The researcher told VICE News that he couldn’t say whether or not the information had been accessed by anyone else.

Robert said he informed Indane about the breach on Feb. 15 but as he didn’t receive a response, decided to publish his findings.

Within hours of the news breaking, parent company Indian Oil put out a statement denying that there was any leak of Aadhaar information.

However, Indane’s website has now been taken offline without explanation.

Robert, who uses the online pseudonym Elliot Anderson, added that he had screenshots that proved Aadhaar numbers were exposed:

The Indian government has held up Aadhaar as a shining beacon of modernity that everyone else should aspire to and has consistently claimed that its security is so good that the system cannot be breached.

The government and in particular Aadhaar’s regulator, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has a record of quickly dismissing any suggestions that their system is vulnerable, calling critical articles “fake news” even going as far as and threatening legal action and filing police complaints against journalists.

Last month an Indian state government leaked the Aadhaar numbers belonging to 160,000 government workers.

Cover image: An Indian woman getting her fingerprints read during the registration process for Aadhaar cards (or unique identifier [UID] cards) in Amritsar.